<p>I am planning on graduating with a degree in math. However, is it a good idea to have a second major in the sciences to go along with math if I am interested? (Biology, Chemistry, Physics.) What are some of your experiences with these double degrees, and how are they useful if I intend to pursue a Ph.D program or am aiming to get hired by a company right after undergraduate school? If there are some helpful resources online I would be interested in checking them out.</p>
<p>Math graduate schools won’t care about the double major. Some might even prefer if you focused more exclusively on math. On the other hand, a math-combo might be really useful if you are aiming for graduate school in the sciences. Not only is math an essential tool in many fields, but a good performance in upper-level abstract math courses demonstrates problem solving and critical thinking skills which are not emphasized quite as much in undergraduate science courses. For what it’s worth, my friends who double-majored in math were accepted to more selective graduate programs in physics, chemistry and economics than their classmates which took only the minimum amount of math classes required for their majors.</p>
<p>For most chemistry, you don’t need extensive math. Computational needs alot of math but beyond that, just adding and subtracting. Especially organic and most of analytical, its just adding and subtracting. Materials, inorganic, physical, need at least differential equations. Computational needs math that I can’t name, but at least partial DEs.</p>
<p>For biology, depending on your interests it could be completely math or no math.</p>
<p>Physics needs alot of math.</p>
<p>For math, you’ll probably want to focus on either physics/engineering or biology. the complex math in chemistry is mostly physics: quantum, thermo, stat mech which most people don’t even touch after they graduate.</p>